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Investigators say driver of car with Kursk reg officials lost control of vehicle

As a result, the driver and two Toyota passengers, Kurkin and Shekhovtsov, died instantly, while two other passengers, Zubarev and Petrushin, were hospitalized

KURSK, November 14 (Itar-Tass) —— A traffic accident that killed three persons and injured two officials from the Kursk region government might have been caused by the car driver who lost control of the vehicle, a spokesman for the Kursk region administration of the Russian interior ministry told Itar-Tass on Friday.

According to investigators, the accident took place late at about 18:15 Moscow time on Saturday, November 12, in the Fatezh district of the Kursk region on the 495th kilometre of the Crimea highway. The driver of a Toyota Camry car of the local police administration, junior criminal police officer Vladimir Chernikov, lost control of the vehicle, and the car rammed a trailer of a KAMAZ truck going in the same direction. There were five persons in the Toyota car – the driver, the deputy head of the regional police department, Valery Petrushin, the first deputy governor of the Kursk region and head of the Kursk regional government, Alexander Zubarev, the head of the regional state service and personnel committee, Viktor Kurkin, and a civil person Alexander Shekhovtsov.

As a result, the driver and two Toyota passengers, Kurkin and Shekhovtsov, died instantly, while two other passengers, Zubarev and Petrushin, were hospitalized. The KAMAZ driver was not hurt.

According to regional health authority head Sergei Shevchenko, Zubarev and Petrushin are in condition of moderate gravity. “Zubarev has rib fractures and a lung injury, while Petrushin has a head injury and numerous fractures. There is no threat to their lives,” he said.

The criminal case was opened on charges of violation of traffic rules that resulted in the death of three persons. An investigation is underway.